The authors of the letter laid out their reasons why Mykolaiv Oblast police seem to be contributing to the region’s crime problems, not fighting them. These include lack of professionalism, nepotism at the top, as well as a sense of impunity for taking part in crimes and cover-ups.
There are plenty of names and individual facts laid out in the anonymous letter, and the probability is high that they are true. In the past few years, the level of trust towards Ukraine’s police force dropped to a critically low point – and there are good reasons for it.
It is men in uniform that have dispersed peaceful street demonstrations. Dressed in another uniform, road inspectors engage in extortion. In fact, anyone walking down the street is in danger at any time, day or night, of being forced to fork over cash.
So, how does the public perceive the activity of law enforcement? A man in a police uniform in the eyes of a regular Ukrainian embodies treachery and increased danger. Ukrainians hear from each other about confessions being beaten out of innocent people involving torture to crimes police fail to solve. Drug dealing, illicit alcohol production, prostitution and illegal arms trading also are covered up. The list could go on.
In each case the police uniform serves to achieve personal enrichment. At the end of the day, all these police actions are perceived to be part of the existing state system akin to the job description of officers who are actually employed by silent and ignorant taxpayers.
The June case of rape and ensuing cover-up by law enforcement in Vradiyivka, Mykolaiv Oblast is not unique and is by no means extraordinary — and it is not a regional exception.
Perhaps most people fear for their jobs and families, and avoid radical choices to defend their rights — like storming their local police office, as in Mykolaiv Oblast and later in Kyiv.
Citizens have not yet learned to articulate their own demands. Many are not aware of their basic rights, thus, they are defenseless from the tyranny of the powerful. People often lack time and resources to study their rights: civic control over authorities, free debate and circulation of information in the media.
This creates a fertile ground for abuse. According to a poll by the Kharkiv Institute for Sociological Research, in 2011 almost a million Ukrainians were victims of abuse by authorities — that’s more than a one case a minute.
As a result, many convictions are based on extremely controversial evidence. Every year we watch the lives of innocent men, women and teenagers be destroyed by long prison sentences – some sentenced to life – and we see the suffering of their families because of it.
Some of these sad cases are well-known, like the case of Oleksandr Rafalskiy, who was sentenced to life behind bars and denied a fair trial after being beaten and tortured by police into confessing to a crime he did not commit. His case is pending in the European Court for Human Rights. But many others pass unnoticed below the radar.
The causes behind these misdeeds range from a lack of competent staff to low salaries to imperfect legislation. All contribute to the authorities’ inability to make any difference in crime rates. At the same time, police officers are required to achieve particular targets.
For lower ranks, failure to meet targets is interpreted as low efficiency, which makes them vulnerable. If they fail to investigate a crime, they will be fired or demoted. If they fail to execute a supervisor’s order, they will be fired, even if this decision is groundless or even illegal.
Decent people, valuable professionals and the best performers are fleeing the system because they cannot go against their convictions and sink to the level of their disreputable peers. Possibly, the level of pay also plays a major role – it’s hard to live on a Hr 2,000 salary.
As a result, investigators do not bother working with indirect evidence: it’s much easier and more familiar to beat out a confession or fabricate evidence.
It’s true that after the new Criminal Procedural Code came into effect, cases of torture dropped somewhat. Confessions are no longer accepted by court as the only evidence. But cases continue to be fabricated out of habit – just because police don’t know how to work in any other manner.
In their anonymous letter to the minister, the officers say that “the whole system needs to be uprooted.” What I don’t agree with is that it’s the minister they should be appealing to. You cannot expect an institution to reform itself, particularly an institution that stinks so badly of corruption.
In my opinion, Minister Zakharchenko should resign and proclaim that the institution he heads cannot fulfill its functions of guarding the law. To change the system, you need teamwork — from the president, the minister, the parliament, independent journalists, civic activists and others.
The police have long been an armed criminal group which threatens national security. To force the police to fulfill their professional duties, the work of this institution needs to be open and transparent.
You would most likely need to significantly reduce staff and motivate those who are capable of fulfilling their duties by raising their salaries and providing them with social guarantees.
Possibly, police officers should be reevaluated, not the kind that authors of the letter described in Mykolaiv Oblast, when officers get approved in exchange for bribes paid to superiors.
Moreover, the prosecutor’s office needs to be reformed, and a new institution to supervise police introduced, like the National Bureau of Investigations. Courts need to be reformed, too.
Until that happens, you can change and rotate heads of regional departments and even the whole staff, with no effect – all because of the unwritten rule of the police force: you can step over the law when dealing with regular citizens, but you have no right to make a mistake before your boss.
Andriy Didenko is an expert at the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union.
